Amruta Khanvilkar: 'This year has been special because of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa and Chandramukhi'

Actress Amruta Khanvilkar is celebrating her birthday today (November 23). Birthday parties for her have always been intimate with only close ones in attendance. However, this year, Amruta has different plans. “I’m from a middle-class Maharashtrian family. My sister and I used to celebrate our birthdays together in a simple way. Even after I got married, I celebrated privately with Himanshu (husband) and my family. But this year, I'm doing something which I've never done in my life. I'll be celebrating with my friends from the Hindi and Marathi film industries. There'll be a huge celebration,” she reveals.

The actress goes on to explain why this is an apt time to celebrate her birthday with her industry friends and family. “The audience has been pouring a lot of love on me, especially after Chandramukhi and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 10. The year 2022 has been amazing. Himanshu rightly says that I have the best of both worlds. My film, Chandramukhi, got so much appreciation from the audiences and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa took it to another level. When I got eliminated, fans were really disappointed. I was trending on social media out of nowhere. I was so busy doing my own thing that I didn't pay attention to these things. But when people started telling me that they've been following my Jhalak's journey, it was just amazing. I felt that reality shows and evictions toh hote rehte hai but the kind of relationship I've developed during the show and Chandramukhi, these moments are not going to come back. Hence, I thought why not celebrate everything together,” she explains.

Amruta’s birthday resolution is to work towards entertaining her fans. “A few months back, I didn't know my fans were getting entertained by me - be it through films, songs or reality shows. But now I think it is a mix of everything. I think I've earned a lot of loyal fans and that is what an artiste requires. No matter what, the fans will stand by you and I've experienced that this year. When we won Nach Baliye, I never experienced this sort of amazing loyalty of fans towards me. Now, they have literally gotten into fights with fan clubs of other celebs. I'm like 'don't fight, it's okay, we're all friends' (laughs). So I want to cater to this loyalty. I want to entertain them, not just through regional cinema but also through my Hindi projects. I wish to take it a bit higher and make myself a brand. I think that is something that I'm really looking forward to,” the actress says.

Amruta has been in Goa for the last few days for the International Film Festival of India. When asked if her birthday will be a cheat day, the actress, who is into fitness, jokes, “It's a cheat week. I've been in Goa for IFFI and I performed with Varun Dhawan, Kartik Aaryan, Sara Ali Khan, and others. Trust me, my cheat week started there and it's going to end after my birthday,” Amruta signs off.